Marking the twenty-fifth year of Bangarra Dance Theatre in 2014, a new lavish 176 page photographic book takes a look at one of Australia’s foremost dance companies that celebrates the past, present and future.
Clan honours this milestone and those people who have inspired Bangarra over the years. By having its feet in both worlds of old and modern, Bangarra creates contemporary theatrical experiences that are influenced by timeless stories and customs.
The land shapes the people, the people shape the language, the language shapes the songs, and the songs then determine the dance – and the spirit flows through it all. This is the Bangarra Dance Theatre.
Dancers communicate so profoundly with the mere flex of a foot or hand, a shift of focus, the roll of a head, the transfer of weight within their body. As the dancers move in and out of the space and light there is a momentum and energy, even with the smallest of steps.
Greg Barrett and Stephen Page have in a unique collaboration beautifully and skilfully given shape to, and recorded, these magical, ephemeral moments. Clan’s intimate and dramatic collection of photographs capture the personal, the professional and the sacred moments of artistic expression.
Stephen Page is the legendary artistic director of Bangarra, Australia’s premier Indigenous performing arts company. Established in 1989, BDT produces distinctive dance theatre productions that tour each year to capital cities, regional towns and remote communities of Australia and throughout the world.
Greg Barrett is one of Australia’s foremost photographers with a special interest in dance and the performing arts. Since becoming a professional photographer at the age of thirty-three, he has worked extensively in film direction, fashion photography, advertising and portraiture.
His work forms part of the permanent collection of the National Library in Canberra and his photography is widely collected and is seen as a reference point for the possibilities of what the human body can achieve in non-verbal expression.
CLAN is published by Allen and Unwin and is available from all leading book retailers. For more information about Bangarra Dance Theatre, visit: www.bangarra.com.au for details.
Image: Yolande Brown, Leonard Mickelo and Kaine Sultan-Babij by Greg Barrett